Hacking threatens VOIP

Businesses that implement VoIP (voice over IP) telephony systems in their local area networks must ensure they have effective protection against the growing incidences of VoIP hacking. Most people are not aware of the dangers of VoIP, and many others only become aware of the risks when the damage has already been done. As VoIP gains traction in the South African business sector, it becomes more evident that larger businesses are more vulnerable.
No business owner wants to come back to work in the morning, only to realise that their VoIP lines have been illegally used the entire weekend to call a number in East Timor at a rate of R7.50 per minute. Then, adding insult to injury, they later discover the fraudster made full use of their SIP trunk, which means 50 simultaneous calls for as long as possible. The potential result… a bill of R25 000 in a few hours.

Who is responsible for the breach? The end-users, for not securing their server or SIP account details? The provider, for not ensuring that preventive measures are put in place on its SIP infrastructure?

The more constructive questions would be: How and why? The how – the primary method that hackers use to gain access to your SIP account (your VoIP telephone) line is by simply cracking your password. More often than not it is found that end-users don’t take the time to change default passwords, leaving the door wide open for prowling hackers. The why – once your account has been breached, the hacker then proceeds to make calls to specific destinations where they get a share of the cost of the call. This can be extremely costly if you do not have credit limits on your account.

David Ridereau, Technical director of Wanatel and former security expert from IBM, has adopted the following philosophy: “If we cannot control our clients’ security system on their side, we need to be able to limit or even prevent the risks from our side.”

h highly secure and complex firewalls, limiting access to the network and implementing strict credit limits, what more could Wanatel do to prevent your account from being compromised? The answer… SIP Brigade.

SIP Brigade is the complete VoIP security and quality management system. Wanatel’s SIP Brigade monitors suspicious patterns of calls to premium destinations. It also monitors your account to ensure the number of simultaneous calls does not exceed the number of extensions you have. It gives Wanatel a real-time overview of all its clients’ traffic and enables it to detect unusual call patterns.

Any VoIP provider that is serious about ensuring they offer good quality VoIP and a secure network for their clients should be using SIP Brigade. SIP Brigade is an integration of the perfect VoIP monitoring, reporting and security modules. This system was designed with two core objectives in mind, quality and security. Therefore, no bad surprises for you or your client in the morning.

Wanatel understands that reading doesn’t always mean believing, and that’s why it has a ‘try before you buy’ SIP Brigade policy. A free seven-day trial is now offered, giving you the experience of being a step ahead of potential threats and your competition.